282 Towards Support for Long-Term Digital Preservation

The International Journal of Digital Curation

Issue 1, Volume 6 | 2011
Towards Support for Long-Term Digital Preservation
in Product Lifecycle Management
Wolfgang Wilkes !"rg #runsmann Dominic $eutel%eck &ndreas $undsd"rfer
Matt'ias $emm(e and $ans-)lric' $eid%rink
)niversity of $agen
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Abstract
*mportant legal and economic motivations e.ist for t'e design and engineering industry to address
and integrate digital long-term preservation into product lifecycle management /PLM01 *nvestigation
revealed t'at it is not sufficient to arc'ive only t'e product design data t'at are created in early PLM
p'ases %ut t'at preservation is needed for data t'at are produced during t'e entire product lifecycle
including early and late p'ases1 Data t'at are relevant for preservation consist of re2uirements
analysis documents design rationale data t'at reflect e.periences during product operation and also
metadata like social colla%oration conte.t1 *n addition t'e engineering environment itself t'at
contains specific versions of all tools and services is a candidate for preservation1 T'is paper takes
a closer look at engineering preservation use case scenarios as well as PLM c'aracteristics and
workflows t'at are relevant for long-term preservation1 3esulting re2uirements for a long-term
preservation system lead to an 4pen &rc'ival *nformation System /4&*S0 -%ased system
arc'itecture and a proposed preservation service interface t'at respects t'e needs of t'e engineering
industry1
2
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T'is paper is %ased on t'e paper given %y t'e aut'ors at iP38S 299:; received !anuary 29-9 pu%lis'ed
Marc' 29--1
T'e International Journal of Digital Curation is an international (ournal committed to sc'olarly e.cellence and
dedicated to t'e advancement of digital curation across a wide range of sectors1 *SS<5 -=>?-82@? T'e *!D+ is
pu%lis'ed %y )A4L< at t'e )niversity of #at' and is a pu%lication of t'e Digital +uration +entre1
Wolfgang Wilkes et al1 28B
Introduction
T'e Sustaining $eritage &ccess t'roug' Multivalent &rc'ivi<g /S$&M&<0
digital preservation pro(ect
B
investigates t'e needs of different application domains
w'ic' are known as *ntegration C Demonstration Su%pro(ects /*SPs01 T'e *SPs
include5
Memory institutions5 scientific pu%lis'ing in li%raries and documents in
governmental arc'ives;
Data resources used in e-Science applications;
T'e industrial design and engineering industry1
T'e industrial design and engineering industry is c'aracterised %y a large num%er
of 'eterogeneous design and development tools t'at are organised %y product lifecycle
management /PLM0 and product data management /PDM0 systems /S$&M&< 299801
T'ose PLM and PDM systems provide services suc' as company-adapted workflows
data integration and version and configuration management1 & large num%er of
'eterogeneous data are created during e.ecution of all PLM p'ases1 +ompanies in t'e
design and engineering industry consider long-term preservation of suc' product data
as an additional asset to t'eir PLM6PDM systems1 &s discussed %y $eutel%eck
#runsmann Wilkes and $undsd"rfer /299:0 t'ere are several important motivations
for design and engineering companies to engage in digital long-term preservation1
T'ese include legal re2uirements defined %y law and contracts as well as economic
reasons suc' as efficient reuse1 Dor long-term preservation t'e 4pen &rc'ival
*nformation System /4&*S; +onsultative +ommittee for Space Data Systems 29920 is
widely accepted as a reference arc'itecture1 #y analysing t'e design and engineering
industry t'is paper derives a num%er of re2uirements w'ic' 'ave to %e satisfied %y
digital preservation systems in order to %e adopta%le wit'in state-of-t'e-art design and
engineering environments1
T'is paper is organised as follows5 we first give a s'ort introduction to t'e 4&*S
reference arc'itecture1 We t'en lay out several use case scenarios for preservation
system access in t'e engineering industry1 We proceed %y descri%ing c'aracteristics of
PLM-%ased workflows and e.isting s'ortcomings of t'ese implementations1 Drom t'e
descri%ed use case scenarios and s'ortcomings we derive re2uirements for long-term
preservation systems in t'e engineering industry1 Dinally we propose a 'ig'-level
arc'itecture and service interface for a long-term preservation system capa%le of
supporting t'e needs of PLM systems1
The !en Archi"al Information #$stem %odel
&n 4&*S is an arc'ive consisting of an organisation of people and systems t'at
'ave accepted t'e responsi%ility to preserve information and make it availa%le for a
Designated +ommunity1 T'e 4&*S provides a conceptual reference arc'itecture and
does not specify a concrete implementation1
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The International Journal of Digital Curation
Issue 1, Volume 6 | 2011
28> Towards Support for Long-Term Digital Preservation
T'e AI# en"ironment model consists of t'e 4&*S arc'ive and t'ree e.ternal
actors1
& producer is a person organisation or system t'at provides t'e digital
information to %e preserved1
& consumer is a person organisation or system t'at accesses t'e 4&*S to
find and ac2uire preserved information1 T'e Designated +ommunity
w'ic' may %e composed of multiple user communities is an identified
group of potential consumers w'o s'ould %e a%le to understand a particular
set of information1
T'e management are t'ose persons or organisations w'o set t'e overall
4&*S policies in t'e sense of managementEs responsi%ilities and not t'e
daily operational arc'ive administration1
W'ile investigating use cases and re2uirements it is necessary to focus on t'e
needs of t'e Designated +ommunity w'ic' will %e done in t'e ne.t section1
T'e AI# functional model consists of si. ma(or functional entities1 T'e *ngest
functional entity accepts one or more Su%mission *nformation Packages /S*Ps0 and
creates &rc'ival *nformation Packages /&*Ps0 w'ic' it provides to &rc'ival Storage
for preservation1 *ngest also sends Descriptive *nformation /D*0 to t'e Data
Management functional entity1 +onsumers interact wit' t'e &ccess function w'ic'
uses t'e D* to find t'e content information of interest1 &ccess retrieves &*Ps from
&rc'ival Storage and sends Dissemination *nformation Packages /D*Ps0 to t'e
consumer1 &dministration oversees t'e day-to-day operation of t'e arc'ive and it
receives advice from Preservation Planning on evolving strategies and mec'anisms for
preservation1 &ll si. functional entities are furt'er %roken down in t'e 4&*S reference
model1
4&*S-%ased preservation systems mig't use some of t'e following preservation
met'ods5
Migration is t'e continuous translation of data %etween data formats and
systems;
Transformation is t'e conversion of data from one format to anot'er
format t'at is assumed to %e more preserva%le;
Emulation /virtualisation0 is t'e duplication of functionality of a system
running on anot'er system1
Designated Communit$ &se Case #cenarios in the
'ngineering Industr$
Since t'e re2uirements for a preservation system are driven %y t'e needs of t'e
preservation system consumers we study t'ese use cases in more detail1 T'e structures
of use case scenarios for preserving engineering data follow t'e %asic motivations of
corporate preservation as introduced %y $eutel%eck et al1 /299:01 $ere we e.tend t'e
motivations wit' concrete e.amples1
The International Journal of Digital Curation
Issue 1, Volume 6 | 2011
Wolfgang Wilkes et al1 28@
Legal Use Cases
*n legal scenarios preservation is mandatory %y eit'er contract or law1 Legal
defense can %e prepared using preserved engineering data1 Some e.amples are5
& malfunction in a >9-year-old aircraft results in a cras' w'ic' leads to
serious in(uries or even deat' of pilots and passengers1 *nvestigating
agencies demand access to preserved data from t'e manufacturing
company1
Malfunction in medical e2uipment can cause serious 'ealt' pro%lems for
patients or can even lead to deat's1
& malfunction in automotive electronics destroys ot'er parts of a car and
can result in an accident1
Economic Use Cases
8conomic use cases seek to increase t'e return on investment %y lowering t'e cost
for activities suc' as reuse maintenance refitting and training1 8.amples are5
&s a conse2uence of a malfunction in a >9-year-old aircraft une.pected
downtimes of aircraft spacecraft or satellites occur t'at result in financial
damage for t'e company1 &n engineer of t'e operating company will use
t'e preserved product data to analyse a potential error1
Products wit' a long lifetime are occasionally en'anced during t'eir
lifetime eit'er to introduce new functionality or to adopt new
re2uirements coming from customers or t'e market1 Depending on t'e
impact of t'ese modifications on different areas of a product it mig't %e
necessary to c'eck eit'er portions of t'e data or t'e total product data1
& future engineer takes some parts /e1g1 t'e enclosure0 of an e.isting
product and reuses it for a new product1 Sop'isticated searc' functionality
supports 'im in finding t'e product data t'at fit 'is needs1 Dollowing t'is
kind of approac' t'e advantage is a s'orter time to market for a new
product and t'e reuse of parts w'ic' 'ave already passed 2uality assurance
tests etc1
& t'ird-party provider for electronic e2uipment wants to develop and
market add-on e2uipment for a companyEs product1 $e can selectively
access t'e company product design data to investigate specification details
and design recommendations for interfaces1
& product recall 'appens as a result of malfunction1 T'e engineering
department 'as to c'eck t'e product design data fi. t'e pro%lems and
create a new revision of t'e product to pass it again to manufacturing1
Archive Consumers
#ased on t'ese use case scenarios we can identify t'e actors /consumers
Designated +ommunity0 for accessing engineering data t'at are preserved on a long-
term %asis5
Duture engineers
*nvestigators
4t'er companies
,overnmental aut'orities
3egulatory agencies
The International Journal of Digital Curation
Issue 1, Volume 6 | 2011
28? Towards Support for Long-Term Digital Preservation
We can identify two ma(or kinds of re2uirements from an access point-of-view5
&ccess of t'e /native0 engineering design data for reuse1 T'e engineer
needs full access to t'ose parts of t'e design data w'ic' 'e wants to reuse1
*n electronic engineering t'ey are t'e logical design simulation models
placement data for t'e p'ysical design specifications etc;
&ccess to representations of t'e design data for e.ample PDD documents
and images of 2D drawings w'ic' 'ave %een created from t'e native
design data1 T'ese may %e used to support service personnel regulatory
needs or for e.ample *S4:999
>
re2uirements1
(roduct )ifec$cle %anagement Characteristics
T'is section lays out t'e fundamental properties t'at e.ist in PLM-%ased
environments1 We descri%e c'aracteristics t'at are in'erent to t'e engineering industry
and t'at affect re2uirements and in conse2uence t'e system arc'itecture1
Overview
Products in t'e aerospace automotive c'emical and petroleum electronics
energy and utilities as well as s'ip%uilding industries pass a product lifecycle t'at
spans from p'ases suc' as idea generation re2uirements collection product planning
development process planning production and operation to disposal and recycling1
During t'e early p'ases of t'e product lifecycle /e1g1 development p'ase0 PDM
systems are involved1 PDM systems are used in t'e engineering and design
communities in order to manage t'e product concept wit' t'e o%(ective to generate
reproduci%le product configurations1 T'erefore PDM systems maintain t'e product
design as versioned data in a repository1 PDM functions as an interface %etween
tec'nical and commercial data processing t'at is %etween computer-aided design
/+&D0 systems on t'e one side and procurement and production on t'e ot'er side1
PLM systems e.tend PDM functionalities %y managing t'e entire lifecycle of a
product from conception to service and disposal1 PLM integrates people data
processes and %usiness systems and provides a product information %ack%one for
companies and t'eir e.tended enterprise1
*n t'e following we focus on two areas of engineering systems w'ic' are relevant
for preservation5
Data formats and models;
Workflow processes and t'e product lifecycle1
Data Formats and Models
Data models. & product is descri%ed from many different viewpoints for
e.ample an electronic product is descri%ed %y geometry netlist routing and
placement simulation models BD mec'anical construction data etc1 8ac' different
viewpoint is composed of a num%er of o%(ects and su%-o%(ects1 T'us we can formulate
t'e following c'aracteristics5
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The International Journal of Digital Curation
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Wolfgang Wilkes et al1 28=
Product data size. T'e siFe of product data is large G t'e complete design
information for a comple. product may need giga%ytes of data1
Product data collection. & product is descri%ed %y a collection of digital o%(ects1
&n electronic product is made up of many different components /enclosure printed
circuit %oards ca%les software etc10 w'ic' are developed in different systems t'at use
different file formats1 *n addition references to o%(ects outside t'e %oundaries of PLM
systems may %e involved for e.ample to information captured in an enterprise
resource planning /83P0 system /e1g1 S&P 36B
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Multiple native formats. Digital engineering o%(ects are created in multiple native
formats of +&D systems1 8ven one assem%ly in mec'atronics mig't contain multiple
produced design elements coming from different sources represented in several
different file formats1 & unified model covering all o%(ects in all design and
engineering disciplines does not e.ist1
Data formats. Design data is usually produced %y t'e use of tools1 T'erefore we
can formulate two furt'er c'aracteristics w'ic' are important for digital preservation5
Change of native formats. Typically +&D vendors release one ma(or release per
year w'ic' contains additional functionality1 *n most cases t'e internal data model
c'anges or is e.tended1 &dditionally minor releases /service packs0 are deployed
several times a year w'ic' com%ine %ug fi.es wit' minor en'ancements1
Copyright on formats. Most of t'e native formats are proprietary and t'us not
generally reada%le1 T'e interpretation of a native format usually re2uires t'e use of a
specific tool of a specific vendor1
References to other data. 8ven in t'e conte.t of a PLM system t'e data may not
%e self-contained t'at is t'ere may e.ist e.ternal references for e.ample to glo%ally-
maintained ontologies and classifications or to o%(ects in data%ases of colla%oration
partners1 T'is leads to t'e two following c'aracteristics5
Proprietary taxonomy description. Drawings components connectors standard
parts and ot'er regularly-used design elements are managed in specific li%raries t'at
are created and maintained e.ternal to a company1 ,lo%al element li%raries are mapped
into local company li%raries1 T'is 'appens in many companies wit' proprietary
ta.onomy descriptions including t'e geometrical layout of t'e design o%(ects1
in!s to externally"developed designs. Due to t'e comple. nature of product
designs products are often created in colla%orative pro(ects %y several companies1
T'ese companies are geograp'ically separated and eac' maintain t'eir local design
repositories t'at contain references to ot'er parts of t'e product data model1
Worflow! "rocesses! and the "roduct Lifec#cle
Organisation of $rocesses. & product is developed in comple. processes w'ic'
partly follow strict workflows %ut w'ic' also contain creative p'ases of colla%oration1
T'ese processes are organised in many different ways5
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The International Journal of Digital Curation
Issue 1, Volume 6 | 2011
288 Towards Support for Long-Term Digital Preservation
Company"specific design methodologies. T'e design met'odology can vary
significantly from company to company1 *n addition t'e distinction must %e made
%etween companies w'ic' 'ave a full-%lown design process wit' electronic /c'ip
printed circuit %oard /P+#0 and ca%ling0 and mec'anical design and ot'er companies
w'o 'ave only a fraction of t'ese1
Pro#ect heterogeneity. 8ven engineering pro(ects wit'in t'e same company can
differ significantly regarding t'e policies and %est practices t'ey 'ave to follow
depending on t'e kind of product for w'ic' market and region and so fort'1
Data and colla%oration. Design processes are colla%orative processes w'ere a
num%er of people work toget'er to create products5
Colla$oration. Product data is s'ared among people and tools1 +olla%oration takes
place wit'in t'e same company or across different companies1 *nter-company
colla%oration re2uires s'aring of information %ut only as far as necessary for t'e
colla%oration1 +ompanies are very sensitive to t'e protection of t'eir data /intellectual
property0 from unwanted e.c'ange wit' colla%oration partners1
%eographically"distri$uted product lifecycle. Products are designed
manufactured and serviced in a glo%ally-distri%uted environment1
Many designs are variations of e.isting designs1 T'us e.isting designs 'ave to %e
kept in a retrieva%le form5
Design reuse. 8ngineers often searc' %rowse and retrieve already-developed
designs in order to get ideas e.amples or reusa%le items1
T'e different design p'ases are performed in different conte.ts /tools locations
people etc101 T'us a lot of metadata and conte.t data are produced during t'e course
of product development1
Metadata and context data creation during the &hole lifecycle. During t'e design
and development processes not only product data %ut also metadata descri%ing t'e
performed processes are created1 Dor e.ample during colla%orations %etween different
domains /e1g1 electronic +&D and mec'anical +&D He+&D6m+&DI0 and during
interactions %etween various PLM p'ases /e1g1 a c'ange re2uest from re2uirement
analysis to product development0 social conte.t data are created1 T'is data needs to %e
collected during t'e w'ole product lifecycle1
'ersion and configuration management system usage. 8.isting PLM
implementations contain version and configuration management t'at partly arc'ive
product data1
#hortcomings and (roblem #tatement
&lt'oug' several academic and industrial pro(ects already tackle t'e pro%lem area
of long-term preservation of engineering data some important aspects 'ave not %een
considered so far /#runsmann C Wilkes 299:01 T'e discussed c'aracteristics
represent a %asis for finding missing pro(ect scopes and s'ortcomings of e.isting PLM
implementations1 T'e identified s'ortcomings are grouped %y 4&*S arc'itecture
functionality1
The International Journal of Digital Curation
Issue 1, Volume 6 | 2011
Wolfgang Wilkes et al1 28:
&eneral
T'e state-of-t'e-art preservation feature in PLM-%ased systems is t'e creation and
storage of versions in vast PLM repositories w'en certain milestones are reac'ed1
&rc'iving of product designs is done %y creating %ackups of PLM repositories1 4f
course t'ese PLM repositories do not offer preservation functionalities1 T'us t'e
c'ange to a different tool or PLM system is not possi%le1
*f data arc'iving is considered %y e.isting pro(ects at all t'en only geometric data
are arc'ived1 $owever as descri%ed a%ove product designs do not consist only of
geometric data w'ic' means t'at t'e ot'er data are lost forever1
Data 'ngest
T'e practice of arc'iving and creating metadata only once makes t'e arc'ival step
2uite comple.1 T'is lowers t'e acceptance of t'e arc'iving process1 )nfortunately
met'ods for automatic e.traction of metadata are currently missing during ingestion or
during creation of data1 T'erefore capturing of metadata is perceived as intrusive and
its value for later access to t'e arc'ived data is not understood1 *n addition valua%le
data and metadata are created during t'e w'ole lifecycle1 Metadata include data a%out
processes people products provenance and colla%oration1 *f t'ese data are not fully
collected during t'e process t'ey are lost forever1
+ompany colla%orations lead to distri%uted data repositories1 T'e collection of
distri%uted data for arc'iving is not provided %y current PLM solutions1 *n addition it
is not guaranteed t'at all companies use tools of t'e same vendor in t'e same version1
T'e data t'at are created and ingested in one PLM p'ase are interconnected wit'
o%(ects from ot'er p'ases for e.ample a product design depends on t'e re2uirements
document a p'ysical layout depends on t'e logical design or a document created in
t'e service p'ase depends on t'e product design1 T'ese relations'ips and connections
to ot'er data and metadata t'at span over several PLM p'ases 'ave not %een
considered in long-term preservation pro(ects in t'e engineering industry1
Data Access
Dor product design reuse and all ot'er use cases searc'ing and finding of product
designs is essential %ut can only %e done in a reasona%le way if semantics are attac'ed
to t'e arc'ived product data1 )nfortunately semantics are neit'er attac'ed nor
arc'ived for a product design %y e.isting PLM implementations1
Since t'e arc'ived product designs are only availa%le in native formats t'e data
cannot %e used wit' future tool revisions unless t'e data are transformed into vendor-
neutral formats1
"reservation "lanning
8.isting pro(ects concentrate on migration as t'eir preservation met'od w'ic'
creates pro%lems due to t'e 'ig' fre2uency of format or system c'anges1 4t'er
e.isting pro(ects use t'e met'od of transformation to vendor-neutral formats /#all
Patel C Ding 2998; Lu%ell 3ac'uri Mani C Su%ra'manian 299801 #ut
transformation does not solve all pro%lems since t'e neutral format usually does not
cover -99J of t'e native format and vendor-neutral formats evolve wit' t'e native
The International Journal of Digital Curation
Issue 1, Volume 6 | 2011
2:9 Towards Support for Long-Term Digital Preservation
formats1 4t'er met'ods like emulation or system preservation 'ave not %een
considered in more detail1
*f t'e system environment and t'e proprietary product data are arc'ived it is not
guaranteed t'at valid software licenses for applications are availa%le if t'e arc'ived
native data are accessed several years later1
Since glo%al ta.onomy standards evolve independently arc'ived data t'at
reference t'ese glo%al standards may %ecome unusa%le wit'out notice1
*e+uirements
T'e e.amination of c'aracteristics and s'ortcomings and t'e analysis of t'e use
case scenarios of t'e previous sections lead to a num%er of 'ig'-level re2uirements for
digital preservation systems in PLM5
&eneral
Process integration. Since in all PLM p'ases relevant data are created it s'ould
%e possi%le to integrate arc'iving system functionality into all PLM-%ased workflows1
Modularity and adapta$ility. Since t'e design met'odology is very different in
different companies a digital preservation system s'ould %e modular customisa%le
and adapta%le1
(ervice interface availa$ility. *t must %e possi%le to access t'e preservation
functionality via application programming interfaces1 T'is ensures t'at tools written in
different programming languages and running on different operating systems can
access preservation functionality1
(ystem autonomy. T'e preservation system 'as to %e independent from t'e
specific PLM system t'at currently uses t'e preservation system1 *t is desira%le to
ena%le a switc' to anot'er PLM system wit'out loss of arc'ived product data1 *t s'ould
also %e possi%le to preserve t'e data wit'out 'aving access to an e.isting PLM system1
Data 'ngest
Data and metadata) and file format standards. T'e system s'ould %e a%le to
transform multiple native formats into standard vendor-neutral formats1 T'e system
s'ould %e aware of standardised data and metadata and file formats so t'at future tools
are a%le to interpret t'e data1 T'e reference model s'ould %e a%le to accommodate
e.isting standard metadata and file formats t'at are used %y many companies and
during colla%orations1 *n addition t'e model s'ould allow new standards to %e
included1
Parallel archiving of native and standard format. T'e system must %e a%le to
arc'ive %ot' native and standard formats in parallel1
Metadata generation and preservation. To ena%le engineers to find e.isting
designs w'ic' can %e reused t'e system s'ould create and store metadata t'at descri%e
t'e arc'ived designs for searc'ing on a reasona%ly detailed level1 Metadata include
grap'ics and significant properties1 T'e e.traction of metadata s'ould %e possi%le %ot'
automatically and manually1
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Wolfgang Wilkes et al1 2:-
Process history trac!ing. Dor audit and error-c'ecking processes it is necessary to
arc'ive not only t'e product data %ut also information a%out t'e design process of a
product1 T'erefore at all stages of t'e design and preservation process automated as
well as interactive user actions s'ould %e monitored and added to t'e c'ange 'istory
of t'e stored design o%(ects1 T'is practice ena%les users to searc' retrieve and
understand a product design1
Data validation. T'e system s'ould validate t'e data %efore t'ey are ingested into
t'e arc'ive and after t'e access from t'e arc'ive1 Kalidation s'ould include c'ecks for
completeness and for correctness1
Pac!aging of design data and metadata. *n order to allow t'e retrieval of parts of
a product design /e1g1 t'e mot'er%oard of a computer0 or data reflecting a certain stage
of t'e design cycle /e1g1 logical design or p'ysical design0 t'e system s'ould %e a%le
to package %ot' types of design data according to t'eir type1
Data Access
Intellectual property rights protection. T'e system s'ould restrict t'e access to all
+&D o%(ects and properties in t'e design files1 T'is ensures t'e protection of
intellectual property t'at is re2uired in colla%oration processes w'ere different
companies are involved1
Data validation. T'e system s'ould also validate t'e accessed data for
completeness and correctness1
*ccess to parts of a product design. & product design consists of a collection of
o%(ects1 T'e system s'ould allow access to t'e complete design as well as to parts of
t'e design /e1g1 logic design or mec'anical construction data01 *f product data are
reused wit' old design tools it must %e ensured t'at t'e design or directory structure is
maintained in t'e arc'ive1
(earch and retrieval of product data $y metadata. 8ngineers will re2uire access to
data from different pro(ects in different data formats created %y different design tools1
T'e system s'ould provide discovery mec'anisms for arc'ived product designs1
Data "reservation "lanning
Migration support. Due to t'e fre2uent c'anges of file formats t'e system s'ould
support t'e migration of arc'ived product design in order to %e in sync wit' t'e
appropriate +&D tool and PLM system versions1 &rc'ived data must %e migrated
eit'er on access or following a sc'eduled preservation plan1
PM process triggers for preservation planning activities. Process milestones
influence t'e necessity to keep specific formats in t'e arc'ive for e.ample after
milestone Lend of lifeM t'e native format may %ecome o%solete1
External taxonomy dependencies. 8lements of component li%raries are descri%ed
%y ta.onomies t'at are e.ternal to t'e companies1 T'e system s'ould maintain
references and mappings to specific versions of t'ese ta.onomies1
'ersioning of parts of a complete product design. & product design consists of a
'ierarc'y of dependent o%(ects1 $owever it is possi%le t'at parts of an arc'ived
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2:2 Towards Support for Long-Term Digital Preservation
product design are deleted or updated or new o%(ects are added to it /e1g1 during t'e
maintenance p'ase of a product01 T'erefore t'e system s'ould allow t'e creation of
versions of a product design and put t'em under configuration control1
External o$#ect maintenance. T'e system s'ould maintain relations'ips to o%(ects
outside of t'e PLM system for e.ample to an 83P system1
,igh-le"el #$stem Architecture
*n t'is section we map t'e given re2uirements to t'e 4&*S reference arc'itecture
and derive e.tensions or adaptations to 4&*S functionality1 We identify steps in t'e
workflows managed %y PLM systems w'ere a link to suc' a preservation system is
possi%le1
&s already descri%ed in t'e introduction t'e S$&M&< pro(ect investigates t'e
needs of t'ree different application domains1 T'ese different domains s'are a similar
lifecycle w'ic' is s'own in Digure - and descri%ed %elow1
Digure -1 S$&M&< *nformation Lifecycle1
()AMA* 'nformation Lifec#cle
T'e proposed S$&M&< lifecycle /#rocks Aranstedt !Nsc'ke C $emm(e 299:0
contains t'e p'ases pre-ingest wit' creation and assem%ly arc'ival and post-access
wit' adoption and reuse1
During pre"ingest all activities are e.ecuted t'at must %e taken prior to t'e
ingestion of data into t'e preservation system1
T'e creation p'ase gives %irt' to new information t'at could %e t'e result
of comple. processes involving many producers1 *n t'e engineering
industry t'is is t'e creation of arc'ives of relevant metadata in real-time
during all p'ases of t'e PLM process1
During t'e assem$ly p'ase additional information t'at is relevant for
arc'iving is collected1 *ssem$ly assures t'at enoug' information is
arc'ived so t'at a digital o%(ect remains reusa%le for a future consumer1 *n
t'e engineering industry all relevant data are collected t'at are needed to
The International Journal of Digital Curation
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Wolfgang Wilkes et al1 2:B
correctly interpret a product design /i1e1 geometry coordinate list
metadata product component li%raries simulation and verification data01
During t'e archival p'ase t'e digital o%(ect is stored and maintained in a
preservation system1 Policies descri%e t'e lifetime and migration of digital
o%(ects1
T'e post"access p'ase comprises all activities t'at are needed for preparing
t'e final access of t'e preserved data1
During t'e adoption p'ase t'e arc'ived digital o%(ects are adapted for
domain-specific reuse t'at a preservation system cannot accommodate1 *n
t'e engineering industry t'e arc'ived data formats are translated to
formats t'at are interpreta%le wit' current tools1
During t'e reuse p'ase t'e consumer e.ploits t'e arc'ived information1
3euse may lead to t'e creation of new digital o%(ects t'at later are also
candidates for arc'iving1 *n t'e engineering industry an arc'ived product
design can %e imported into a proprietary tool for creating product
variations1
&fter 'aving descri%ed t'e information lifecycle in general we are a%le to specify
a S$&M&<-%ased 'ig'-level system arc'itecture for t'e engineering industry /see
Digure 201 T'e systems are interconnected wit' solid /use-relations'ip0 and das'ed
/reference-relations'ip0 arrows1 T'e relevant key aspects of t'e figure are descri%ed
starting from t'e top1
Core PLM system
PLM repository
Pre ingest Post access
Long-term preservation functionality
PLM Tools
Workflow
Consumer Producer
Ingest Access
Service interface
Idea Requirements Realize Operation Recycling
Collaoration !ersion"Configuration management
#ocument management
Preservation
policies
Preservation
planning
SHAMAN preservation system
$icense
management
Rig%ts
management
Legend
references uses
Digure 21 System &rc'itecture1
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2:> Towards Support for Long-Term Digital Preservation
Actors and +ools
During t'e w'ole product lifecycle /from idea generation to recycling0 t'e system
is used %y producers and consumers w'o are assisted %y various tools t'at can %e
plugged into t'e overall PLM system infrastructure1 T'e tools are a%le to display and
modify t'e product data1
Core "LM (#stem
T'e core PLM system consists of t'e standard PLM components suc' as
workflow colla%oration and t'e management of data versions and configurations1
T'e core PLM system will %e used %y t'e upper tool layer and makes use of t'e long-
term preservation functionality and t'e PLM repository t'at are %ot' descri%ed %elow1
"reservation,ena%led "LM (#stem
T'e preservation-ena%led PLM system consists of t'e core PLM system en'anced
wit' preservation functionality1 T'is preservation functionality is responsi%le for
e.ecuting relevant actions during t'e pre-ingest and post-access p'ase1
Dor e.ample during t'e pre-ingest p'ase t'e system collects all relevant product
data t'at are needed for arc'iving1 &lso during pre-ingest native proprietary formats
are converted into vendor-neutral formats for arc'iving1 *n addition it may also %e
decided to arc'ive t'e system environment /software tools etc101 Pre-ingest rules
determine w'at and w'en to arc'ive1 Dor e.ample if a specific p'ase of t'e PLM
process is reac'ed a rule mig't determine to arc'ive t'e product design1
During post-access t'e preservation-ena%led PLM system transforms t'e vendor-
neutral arc'ival format into t'e current native format1 &lso t'e system mig't
reconstruct t'e previously arc'ived system environment1 *n addition domain-specific
post"access rules are specified and e.ecuted1 & post-access rule mig't em%ed t'e
retrieved product design into t'e current tool landscape and create relevant
relations'ips %etween t'e product design and current data models and ontologies1
Pre-ingest and post-access rules are domain-specific and do not include activities
t'at are part of t'e preservation1
()AMA* "reservation (#stem
T'e preservation-ena%led PLM system makes use of t'e S$&M&< preservation
system1 T'is preservation system offers a service interface t'at includes ingest and
access functionality1 Suc' a service interface decouples t'e preservation system from
ot'er systems and allows fle.i%le use even from systems t'at reside in ot'er
companies or institutions1 T'erefore it is necessary t'at t'e preservation system also
includes t'e management of rig'ts to prevent unaut'orised access to t'e arc'ived data1
T'e preservation system also includes standard preservation planning functionality
/o%solescence detection0 and preservation policy management1 T'e management of
software licenses is also needed to ensure legal access to file formats and tools1
Preservation policies define principles t'at guide t'e preservation of digital
o%(ects according to company pro(ect document type or even o%(ect-%ased
guidelines1 T'e PLM system uses suc' policies during ingest in order to define t'e
desired 'andling of ingested product data1 Policies are needed %ecause engineering
pro(ects differ significantly regarding t'e kind of product market and country1 Dor
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Wolfgang Wilkes et al1 2:@
e.ample if t'e collection of ingested product data consist of geometric logical and
p'ysical designs a preservation policy is a%le to specify t'at legal demands allow t'e
deletion of arc'ived p'ysical designs after an elapsed amount of time1 Preservation
policies s'ould guarantee t'at a preservation system is self-sustaining and t'at t'e
arc'ived content remains in a usa%le state1
"LM Re$ositor#
T'e PLM repository stores t'e native product data and is t'e operational data%ase
for t'e core PLM system1 *t is possi%le t'at t'e PLM repository references t'e content
of t'e preservation system1 Dor e.ample if parts of a design move into t'e preservation
system t'en t'e PLM repository can store a uni2ue reference to t'e arc'ived portion
of t'e design and remove t'e arc'ived product design from t'e PLM repository1 *f t'is
design is accessed later t'e PLM system will retrieve t'e design from t'e preservation
system1 *f t'e arc'ived data are migrated t'en references must %e kept in a valid state1
3eferences from t'e preservation system to t'e PLM repository may not e.ist since
t'e preservation system must %e independent from systems t'at use t'e preservation
functionality1
(ummar#
Since t'e arc'itecture was derived from re2uirements it is wort'w'ile to verify if
t'e key aspects of t'e arc'itecture are a good matc' to t'e given re2uirements1
%eneral. T'e preservation system is modular and 'as a service interface t'at
allows t'e integration of t'e system in all p'ases of t'e PLM process1
Data ingest. During pre-ingest relevant metadata /e1g1 process 'istory0 are
collected and mig't %e transformed into vendor-neutral formats %efore ingest1 &lso
during pre-ingest t'e data can %e validated for completeness1 Due to t'e parallel usage
of a preservation system and a PLM repository %ot' native and transformed data are
kept1
Data access. During post-access t'e data are validated for completeness1 T'e
service interface of t'e preservation system allows users to searc' via metadata1
*ntellectual property rig'ts are protected %y t'e preservation system and it controls t'e
access to parts of t'e product design1
Data preservation planning. T'e preservation system migrates t'e arc'ived data
w'enever t'ey are needed and during pre-ingest t'e preservation-ena%led PLM
systems collect all relevant product design data1
Conclusion and utloo.
#ased on PLM system c'aracteristics we 'ave descri%ed e.tensions t'at are
needed for integration of preservation functionality into PLM workflows1 We also
'ave looked at re2uirements for a preservation system %ased on t'e needs of t'e
Designated +ommunity in t'e engineering industry1 4ne of t'e ma(or re2uirements is
easy integration of digital preservation processes and PLM workflows %y using
configura%le modular solutions1 T'is re2uirement is met %y a PLM system arc'itecture
t'at colla%orates wit' t'e functionality of a S$&M&<-%ased preservation system
w'ile conserving t'e possi%ility of e.ecuting t'e regular PLM processes1
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2:? Towards Support for Long-Term Digital Preservation
Durt'er investigations are needed to specify t'e service interface in more detail1
T'e conse2uences of distri%uted arc'ives resulting from glo%al cross-company
colla%orations in t'e engineering industry must %e reflected upon1 *t remains to %e
investigated w'ic' relevant metadata in PLM processes e.ist and 'ow t'ese metadata
can %e captured arc'ived and preserved1 Duture researc' will also tackle t'e pro%lem
of maintaining dependencies to e.ternal ta.onomies t'at are used in t'e engineering
industry1 T'e pro%lem of maintaining version-management metadata 'as to %e
addressed since suc' version metadata are currently 'eld in t'e PLM system1 *f
version information s'ould %e accessi%le %y ot'er PLM systems version metadata 'as
also to %e arc'ived and maintained in a preservation system1
Ac.no/ledgements
T'is paper is supported %y t'e 8uropean )nion wit'in t'e =
t'
Dramework
Programme *ntegrated Pro(ect5 S$&M&<1
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The International Journal of Digital Curation
Issue 1, Volume 6 | 2011